Scott Austic Trial

Australia’s legal system is based on the principles of justice, everyone is equal before the law, everyone has the right to a fair hearing, the judiciary is independent and impartial, the right to an appeal, the right to silence, the presumption of innocence, and there has to be high-quality evidence. This means that any trials that do not stand by these principles are unfair. An example of this is the Scott Austic trial. This trial was unfair because there was no high-quality evidence and the police did not notice the key evidence was planted. Through an investigation of the Scott Austic case, it will be shown that key evidence was planted as a result of a failure in the police force and it resulted in Scott Austic being wrongfully imprisoned for 12 years.

The principle of high quality evidence was compromised in the Scott Austic case because key evidence was planted and the police did not notice. Some police planted key evidence including, a Jim Bean can with Scott Austic’s DNA on it, a cigarette packet with the victim’s blood on it, and the alleged murder weapon a 10cm knife. This compromised the principle of high quality evidence because the alleged murder weapon was only 10cms and the wounds were 13-15cms and the knife could not have inflicted those injuries, the Jim Bean can was found on the same verge that was scoured the day before and the previous pictures of where the cigarette packet was found showed nothing. These examples demonstrate that the principle of high quality evidence was compromised in the Scott Austic case because of key evidence being planted.

The principle of right to an appeal was supported in the Scott Austic case because there were no grounds for an appeal the first time Scott Austic appealed. He appealed twice and both times the right to an appeal was supported because the first time there were no grounds for an appeal and the second there were. This supported the principle of right to an appeal because when he appealed the first time there was no new evidence or reasons to have an appeal so there were no grounds for an appeal and the court did not have to give him one and the second time he appealed some of the key evidence was suspected to be planted so there where grounds and he did get an appeal meaning both times the principal was supported. These examples demonstrate that the principle right to an appeal was supported.

Justice was not upheld in the Scott Austic case because of high quality evidence being compromised. It was not upheld because the key evidence that was planted led to Scott Austic being convicted and placed in jail for 12 years for a crime he did not commit and the real murderer was never found. The fact the police planted the evidence is just further proof the justice system failed in the Scott Austic case.